Image source: The Economic Times
I am against mob violence. Any mob. Any violence. I am against religion. Any religion. All religion. I am for free speech. All speech. Especially speech I do not agree with.
Ergo, I am against mob violence as a tool of protest against free speech.
That said, please note that these protests are not about what one single spokesperson of a party full of crazies and bigots and self-confessedly anti-Muslim (though the way they prefer to call themselves pro-Hindu; they’re fooling no one) nationalists said off-hand in a minor tv debate on a channel pretending to be about news & current affairs but widely known for openly fomenting hatred and toxicity. That was not even, as is widely claimed by liberals, the last straw that apparently broke the camel’s back (we still don’t know yet how far it broke it, but time will tell).
In fact, it isn’t the constant instigation, allegations, othering, profiling, discrimination, and casual hostility faced by Muslims in India by society, by the law, by the courts of justice, by the media, by the government of the day, by the local authority, by those in power, by the general public, and even by random people on social media that caused it. The Muslims are used to it by now.
These protests, the violence, and the seemingly confusing (and confounding for those who are allies) over-reaction to something that was not only said on several occasions earlier and with much more contempt in far more public arenas, but also is the least of the issues for a minority in a democracy (indeed, blasphemy is and ought to be a non-issue in a democratic nation), all of it isn’t, contrary to what liberals think, a pent-up reaction to the insults and taunts, the animosity and animus that was long coming. The Muslims have been used to it. And have learnt to deal with it without your help, thank you.
Your see, ever since the colonial rulers convinced you that they won India from the Muslims and Hindus were always subservient, and that if anyone must be hated for the loss of their freedom, it is them, the Muslims; if anyone must be kept away from power, it must be them, the Muslims; if anyone has destroyed India, resplendent in her ancient ways, it is them, the Muslims; if someone has brought shame to the glory of your motherland, it is them, the Muslims; if anyone must be looked upon as completely impossible to live without friction, it must be them, the Muslims; if anyone must be seen as a complete antithesis of everything you stand for, it must be them, the Muslims; if anyone is opposed to your way of life, it is them, the Muslims, ever since these rulers created puppets within both Hindus and Muslims to aggravate these and further their agenda of divide and rule, and ever since those poisonous seeds bore the bitter fruit in the reality of partition 75 years ago, Hindus have always distrusted Muslims and accused them of being anti-India and pro-Pakistan. The Muslims have gotten used to it too. And have answered that charge in spades when called upon to.
Indeed, none of these have been the proverbial ‘last straw’ for the Muslims.
In fact, there was a dam-like wall holding all your feelings of hatred and disgust inside. A wall that was erected by our founding fathers. A wall with the bricks of the Constitution and the mortar of the pillars of our democracy, decorated by the arts and sport, and guarded by our armed forces, celebrated in songs and movies, held up high in trophies won in international arenas where we fought and won together, and held together by a glue, however forced, of social sanction that flowed from all of these.
Unfortunately, that glue has been slowly coming apart as it aged, the mortar loosening, the decorations being ‘upgraded’ to new ones as the old ones started to look tattered, and while the rot has not yet reached deep inside the wall, I will not be surprised if cracks in it start becoming visible. This has been going on for long, perhaps right since the wall was constructed, but has been accelerated over the past 30-odd years due to the lack of strong leadership. We have been cursed by leaders that were successively weaker and weaker, both in their hold over India and from a moral perspective, after Nehru. And since the coming of Rajeev Gandhi, despite his progressive thoughts, Hindu-Muslim relations have been steadily not just deteriorating, but also becoming more and more prominent in the national discourse.
Indeed, slowly but surely, Muslims have been, over time, relegated to second-class citizens, not just by the majority (which they had learnt to deal with in their own ways), but by the ruling dispensation. The everyday instances of othering that had built up tremendous resentment against both, the government and its ruling party, and the majority which made that government a reality were becoming more regular and more common. At one time, at least they had the backing of the law enforcement, the legislature, the judiciary, and of course, the media, the arts, and the intelligentsia who were wedded to the idea of equality, fraternity, and justice, and above all, secularism, even if it was the wishy-washy Indian kind. Because at the end of the day, even if all that failed, their last fall-back was their inner circle of friends, colleagues, peers, neighbours, classmates, extended family, and daily acquaintances, all of whom, regardless of what they really felt about Muslims, kept up the pretence that had official sanction: equality, fraternity, justice, and secularism.
Unfortunately, over the past 8 years, slowly, this has been eroded, the masks have come off, as have the gloves, and the fangs are being bared, by everyone around Muslims. They can now see the hatred that was, till now for the fear of law or the shame of what was seen as unacceptable behaviour by society, hidden and spoken only in hushed tones in very closed company. This is equivalent to their last line of defence, their life support system, being turned off. You see, however much poison the Muslim saw outside, they found solace in the fact that at least their school friend for the past 25 years, their neighbour for the past two generations, their office colleague, their boss, their team members, the uncle and aunty in the park in their laughter club, the milkman, the newspaper boy, the Kirana shopkeeper, the policeman at the corner of the road, the Uber driver, the food delivery agent, the customer service rep at their car servicing centre, the people they met with and interacted every day were there to reassure them of the sense of normalcy. In short, it was you, the regular garden-variety Hindu that they engaged with every day that they depended on to assure themselves that regardless of how much the rest of the society, with all its systems and institutions, hated and conspired against them, they were safe when they were with you. No more.
It was this that was actually the last straw. You were the last straw. You.
Think about it before opine about this.
